The Peace Quilt

This weeks blocks

I thought I would share the story of the

peace quilt with you, this is what inspired me

to make this quilt.

A young Japanese girl called Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima. She was only 2 years old when the bomb was dropped on her city.Sadako grew into a healthy, active girl, a champion runner for her school. But radiation can wreak deadly effects for many years after it release, and Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 11. She spent many months in hospital before she died in 1955 at age 12. While she was in hospital, Sadako began folding paper cranes because, according to Japanese story, a wish will come true if you fold a thousand paper cranes. Her wish to be well did not come true, and some of her cranes lined her burial casket, others were given to Sadoko's friends. Her classmates decided to create a memorial to Sadoko. A collection was begun, culminating in a statue in the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, which was unveiled in 1958. At the top of the memorial is the figure of a girl holding up a large crane. Thus folded paper cranes came to symbolise the desire for peace in the world. I have since found out that almost 12000 Australian soldiers were sent into Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped, these forgotten soldiers are also my reason for making this quilt.

happy stitching jenni